LOCAL/STATE
The Mchigan Da y - Wednesd ay November 10, 1999 - 3
HIGHER
EDUCATION
Police arrest 20
at GWU in sex
gsting operation
Police at George Washington
University ended a two-week under-
cover operation Friday when they
barred 20 men from campus for solic-
iting sex in the bathrooms of Marvin
Center, a university building.
The university police began the
sting operation after learning of a
posting in the bathroom of the
Website www.cruisingforsex.com in
9ctober. Keith Griffiths who created
the Website said the bathroom at
George Washington University have
been "sexually active for decades."
Administrators are considering mak-
ing the bathrooms accessible only to
tfidintQ with an idenifiontion card
Minorities at Penn
State get hate mail
0At least 68 black and Latinoa stu-
dents at Pennsylvania State University
received anonymous e-mails express-
ing racial slurs and racist messages.
The e-mails were traced to a computer
in the Philadelphia area.
The message came from an account
titled "the patriot," and was also sent
to The Daily Collegian columnist
Laura Hennessy in March.
The FBI is working with Penn State
*olice and the Penn State Network
Security Office in investigating the e-
mails.
Students protest
dismissal of TA
More than 200 University of
South Florida students flooded the
school's administrative offices last
week protesting the school's ,deci-
ion to remove t4aching assistant
Derek Washington, who showed a
photograph of himself having sex to
an art class he taught.
The dismissal was prompted by a
letter a parent sent to administrators
in October, calling the photo and
other works he showed in class as
"smut.
The university is making an infor-
mal inquiry into the possibility of
Washington sexually harassing stu-
dents in the class with the photo.
The 252 students in the class decid-
ed to storm the university's adminis-
trative offices after they found out
class was cancelled due to
Washington's dismissal.
Princeton dean
recommends
%lternative to A+
Princeton Dean Nancy Malkiel is
proposing that the grade A+ be
replaced with A*, an A with distinc-
tion. The Committee on Examinations
and Standing recommended the
change to remedy an "inequity" that
exists between students in depart-
ments that often give A+'s and those
that don't.
Along with the A with distinction,
*structors would write "a distinction
statement," that students could use for
graduate school and job applications.
But students expressed concerns
that instructors would be reluctant to
give A's with distinction if it requires
a written statement.
Texas passes deal
for student loans
0 Last week the state of Texas passed
Proposition 13, granting the Texas
Higher Education Coordinating
Board permission to issue up to $400
million in bonds for student loans to
residents of Texas.
The bonds will be a part of the
Hinson-Hazelwood Loan program,
which provides more than $900 mil-
lion in loans to low and middle
income Texas residents enrolled in
olleges.
- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Jewel Gopwani from U-wire reports.
Party ties have little impact in assembly
By Jeannie Baumann
Daily Staff Reporter
Although more than half the candidates for the
representative seats in the Michigan Student
Assembly fall elections are running with a political
party, party affiliation generally
has little impact on how repre-
sentatives vote once the assem-
bly is in session.
"I vote how I feel my con-
stituency would want me to
vote," Law third-year student
Jasmine Abdel-Khalik said. "I
think everybody does." Abdel-
Khalik was elected as a member
of the Defend Affirmative Action
Party last spring.
But Abdel-Khalik noted that
her constituency elected her
M
S
xi3 .tix
rnM
"When I vote on a resolution, it's what I gen-
uinely believe in and it's usually the same as
DAAP's political platform. But the whole party
doesn't vote together," Dowdell said.
LSA senior and MSA Rep. Peter Handler, who
was a Blue Party candidate last spring,
said "I don't think there's really a party
system except during elections"
Handler said he does not take party
affiliation into consideration when voting.
"If I think it's a good resolution and
it's going to accomplish something, then
I'll vote for it. It can't just be catchy; it
has to be effective as well," he said.
MSA President and Blue Party mem-
ber Bram Elias said representatives
should prioritize constituents before
party affiliation.
"I think the goal is that (political par-
ties) shouldn't have any effect at all. Any MS \
member who doesn't think for themselves whenev-
er we make a decision isn't really doing their job
right," Elias said.
He added that, overall party affiliation has not
obstructed the assembly's ability of proceeding
through business during its meetings.
"By and large, we do a very good job of check-
"Any MSA member who doesn't think for
themnselves whene ver we make a decIion isn't
really doing their job right
- Bram Elias
Michgan Student Assembly President
ing pre-conceived notions at the door," he said.
MSA Vice President Andy Coulouris said party
affiliation plays a meaningful role when the assem-
bly initially goes into session but fades within a few
months.
"The party you run with will dictate who you asso-
ciate with immediately, but in the long run, it makes
no differnec," Coulouris said, addig that some of
h.s lo. est iiends on th a'. mblv are people who
ran with differen: partis Idunng the spring elections
MSA Rep. and LSA sophomore Kym Stewart,
whose yearlong term ends this month, is cur-
rentlv running for re-elect ion an indepIndent
candidate, but ran with the Students' Party last
fal.
"Being an independent, I really only have to
answer to my constituents," Stewart said.
"You don't have to xote along party lines or
politics. If a party doesn't come through in its
campaign promises, tlhere's no individual to
pinpoint. This way, l'm con emplet el accountable
for what I do," she said.
But representatives noted that there were some
adv antages to running with a party.
"Ii's a lot easier to run with a group, and it makes
campaigning a lot of fun," i andler said.
E[ias noted that party aifiliation is a better indi-
ation of efficacy than political perspectives.
"Being in a party is a good w av to share attitudes.
i doesn't mean that you agree on everything; it just
means that you think all ot you can do the job,' he
s'aid.
MSA 'Citions are set r Wedne'sday, Nov.
17 and Thursday, Nov. 18.
based upon specific political ideologies, namely
her support of affirmative action.
LSA sophomore and DAAP member Erika
Dowdell echoed Abdel-Khalik's sentiments.
"Because DAAP has a political perspective and
program, we take our perspective into considera-
tion," she said, adding that her personal opinion and
the official DAAP opinion often coincide.
MSA dissolves Super fan task
force; makes 14 appointments
ALLISON CANTER/ODily
University students participate in a panel discussion of Pakistani
intergenerational issues in the Michigan League yesterday.
r0
cutura sse, %is
By Karolyn Kokko
Daily Staff Reporter
A group of students last night shared
stories about religion, relationships and
maintaining cultural ties to their native
countries while at the same time taking
on their American identities.
The Michigan League hosted a
panel discussion for the members of
the Pakistani Student Association. The
discussion was part of the League's
semester theme of promoting cultural
diversity.
Patty Aquino, an LSA junior and
employee of the Michigan League's
Programming Office, said through
activities such as the panel, the pro-
gramming office hopes to increase
"understanding of issues of different
groups."
Of the 10 people who attended the
discussion, seven were PSA members.
The panel started off formally, but soon
after, everyone gathered in a circle for a
more intimate discussion.
One of the issues the panelist raised
early on in the discussion was the defi-
nition of culture. All of the student pan-
elists have either lived in Pakistan or
were raised by parents who had
expressed different ideas on what cul-
ture means.
"To me, it's not the clothes we wear
or the food we eat, but the idea that
family is so strong," LSA junior
Aroosha Rana said.
Discussion surrounding the defini-
tion of culture led to a talk about how
the students' Pakistani backgrounds
affect their lives.
Most of the members of the group
said they felt their parents were more
strict than some of their friends' parents,
whose families have lived in the United
States for several generations.
"In Pakistan, parents don't worry
about the society around them because
they are consistent with their (values),
but here the values are different," LSA
sophomore Muhammad Haseeb
Saadat said.
The group agreed that one of the
major differences between American
culture and Pakistani culture is the way
dating and relationships are viewed in
society.
One member said although arranged
marriages do not occur as often as in
prior decades, they still are not out of
the ordinary.
PSA President Junaid Iqbal, an LSA
junior, talked about how he has no
choice but to marry someone who was
Pakistani and Islamic, just like himself.
"It's what I have to do," he said,
adding that if he married someone with
a different cultural background, his
family would consider him an outcast.
The panelists also discussed the
importance of religion in their lives.
Regardless of how much they practice
tenets of Islam, it impacts all aspects of
their lives, many said.
"Islam is a way of life," Saadat said.
One of the last topics discussed was
the issue of assimilation. All of the
students shared their experiences of
adjusting to American culture,
whether it occurred when they were
younger, or after they arrived on cam-
pus.
LSA senior Adil Sommro shared
one of his experiences with an
American friend who Sommro said
"assimilates a bit of his (or her) culture
to you and you assimilate some of
yours, so you can meet in the middle."
After further discussion, Business
junior Kamroan Parekh summed up
the discussion by saying "A big part of
intercultural interaction is making
them feel comfortable."
Students who are interested in issues
similar to those discussed at the panel
can contact Iqbal via e-mail at
junaid@umich.edu.
By Jeannie Baumann
Daily Staff Reporter
The Michigan Student Assembly unan-
imously passed one resolution and 14
nominations during their weekly meeting
last night in Bursley Residence Hall.
The single resolution dissolved the
assembly's Super Fan Task Force.
"The task force was done, so there was
no need to have it anymore," former
SFTF Chair Jennifer Zorko said.
"We originally created the task force to
find a new Super Fan because (Jeff
Holzhausen) graduated at the beginning of
last year,"explained Zorko, an LSA sopho-
more.
When LSA sophomore Reza
Breakstone fulfilled the position, Zorko
said SFTF redirected its goals to build
school spirit. The task force put its efforts
into improving this semester's
Homecoming, with events such as the
StudenP-ts
plan for
prXottest
By Jody Simone Kay
and Shomari Terrelonge-Stone
Daily Staff Reporters
Twenty members of the Interfaith
Council for Peace and Justice met last
night to plan their trip to protest the
U.S. Army School of the Americas,
alleging that hundreds of thousands of
Latin Americans have been tortured,
assassinated, raped and massacred by
SOA graduates.
SOA was founded in 1946 in
Panama as a Latin American Training
Center with the goal of promoting
democracy and impeding drug traffick-
ing between Latin American countries
and the United States. It was later relo-
cated to Fort Benning, Ga., in October
1984, where it became an official U.S.
Army Training and Doctrine
Command School.
Since 1946, SOA has graduated
57,000 Latin American cadets, officers
and government civilians from 22
Latin American countries and the
United States.
ICPJ claims that the Latin American
soldiers were trained by SOA to use
combat skills, commando tactics, tor-
ture techniques and military intelli-
gence against civilians.
Spirit X-plosion that took place on the
Diag to kick off Homecoming Weekend.
The task force also started Fxtreme
Wolverines, a pep club for underrepre-
sented sports.
"Basically, SFTF oversaw all these
events," Zorko said. But once the
Extreme Wolverines became an indepen-
dent student group, the goals of SFTF
became obsolete.
"We're going to be doing all the work
that we have been doing, just without the
SFTF," she said.
The Campus Governance Committee
also presented its final nominations for
student representatives for various
administrative advisory groups, such as
the Information Technology Division
Advisory Committee, the Senate
Advisory Committee on University
Student Affairs and the Budget Study
Committee.
These people can start sitting on com-
minttees right away. The students and the
advisory committees just need to be con-
tacted," Student ceneral Counsel and
CmC Chair Josh Trapani explained.
City Liaison and LSA junior Marisa
Linn also made .seven appoi ntments of stu-
dent officers for onanizations of the Ann
Arbor City Council. These organizations
include the Human Rights Commission,
the Housing Commission and the
Domestic Violence Coordinating Board.
Linn said these appointments are in the
process of being submitted to the city, but
the assembly's approval of these nomina-
tions does not necessarily mean these
students have these positions.
"it originally sounded as if they
wanted the students nominated. Now
when positions open up, these names
will be considered for appointment,'
she said.
Community members meet at the First Baptist Church yesterday to discuss an
upcoming trip to Columbus, Ga., to rally against the School of the Americas.
About 60 people from the Ann Arbor
area plan to travel by van to Fort
Benning to participate in the 10th
annual protest of SOA during the
weekend of Nov. 19 to 21.
Toby Hanna-Davies, ICPJ director
and member of the Ann Arbor City
Council (D-Ward I), said she is protest-
ing because, "the SOA should be closed.
Our tax dollars as American citizens has
been supporting atrocity after atrocity
committed by people trained at the U.S.
Army School of the Americas"
Similarly, LSA Junior Jack Tocco
said, "The major thing the protest aims
on doing is consciousness raising so
people know what their tax dollars are
being used to fund."
Some of those planning to attend the
protest are currently involved in nonvi-
olence training sessions to prepare for
possible confrontations they may
encounter during the protest.
"We are not expecting violence.
People who want to be nonviolent
should prepare for it just like Martin
Luther King organized nonviolent
training for people who were nonvio-
lently protesting in the Civil Rights
Movement," Hanna-Davies said.
Last year, SOA Watch, the primary
national organizer of the movement
against the SOA, estimated that 2,319
people attended the 1998 protests. This
year, the organization anticipates
10,000 protesters. Part of protesting
may involve "crossing the line" or
entering the school's property.
"It's a symbolic act. It's putting your
body where your beliefs are," Tocco
said. "It could land me in jail but my
conscience feels so strongly about this.
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What's happening in Ann Arbor today
ETINGS of Student Affairs, Angell Hall, begets change
Room G115, 7 p.m. begets opportun
nternational Mass J "Kristalinact Commemoration," Donald Norman,
ichigan Union, Pond Sponsored by the Conference on MOCHI and t
m g the Holocaust Committee and Speakers Comm
tenants Union Mass M-Flicks, Michigan Theater, 7 School. Hale Auc
Mic h ian Union, p.m.
Dm, 7:36-9 p..' Seeking the Signature of Desire: SERVICES
sr.adtcn+ Against Brain Imaging During Cue-
begets crisis
ity" lecture by
Sponsored by
the Students'
ittee, Business
ditorium, 7 p.m.